Puppies! Puppies! Puppies!

This week’s storytime theme is a favorite of mine!

PUPPIES! 

Look at those snuggly little faces! Awww…

Ok, So, if you ask me, drafting up a storytime on a topic you love is almost as hard, if not harder than doing one on a topic you aren’t super into. I think I ended up with enough material to do two, maybe even three storytimes!

Aside from my standard “Welcome Welcome” and “Goodbye Goodbye” rhymes, I have another rhyme, (at least) three books, and two sing-along songs. I have to decide which ones to keep and which to save for next time. One of the songs is BINGO because, let’s be honest, it’s kind of required, right? I found a nice youtube video for this one that I’m going to play so we can sing along. I like the idea of the video because it’s a bit more interactive than just singing and clapping along, AND it is a big help for me in keeping track of my spot. (how many claps? what are letters?)

Here’s the video I plan to use:

I picked this one because the song didn’t go too quickly, and the animation is nice and simple so it’s easy for the kids to keep up. I like how it spells out BINGO in nice big, bright, letters and then adds in a little picture of hands clapping when you get to those parts.
There was one other video that I thought about using because I really liked how the singer explained what was coming next for each verse, but it’s a pretty long song and the animation is quite busy so I worried that the kids would lose interest.
If you’re interested, here’s the other video:

Here is the other song:

The Paws on the Dog
(to the tune of wheels on the bus)

The paws on the dog go trot, trot, trot.
Trot, trot, trot, trot, trot, trot.
The paws on the dog go trot, trot, trot.
All through the town.

The ears on the dog go flop, flop, flop
Flop, flop, flop, flop, flop, flop
The ears on the dog go flop, flop, flop
All through the town

The nose on the dog goes sniff, sniff, sniff
Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff
The nose on the dog goes sniff, sniff, sniff
All through the town

The tongue on the dog goes lick, lick, lick
Lick, lick, lick, lick, lick, lick
The tongue on the dog goes lick, lick, lick
All through the town

The tail on the dog goes wag, wag, wag
Wag, wag, wag, wag, wag, wag
The tail on the dog goes wag, wag, wag
All through the town

The dogs on a walk go woof, woof, woof
Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof
The dogs on a walk go woof, woof, woof
All through the town.

I took this song from here but changed the last bit.

Here is the other rhyme I’m using:

Some Dogs

Some dogs bark
Some dogs growl
Some dogs yip
And some dogs howl

Some can sit
And some can shake
Some roll over
Some swim in the lake

Some are big
Some are small
Some are short
And some are tall

Some run fast
Some run slow
Some ears stand up
Some ears hang low

This rhyme is another Frakensteined creation of mine; I found the first 3 or 4 lines on a handful of websites, but that was all there was, a 3 or 4 line rhyme. I liked it, but felt it could, and should be much longer! Each line has an action, or something you can replicate which is entertaining and good for getting out some energy. We also learn some opposites with things like fast and slow, up (high) and low, short and tall, big and small. This is a great exercise in learning word relation for the kids. I also like the onomatopoeia in the first stanza. Don’t just say “yip” YIP! 🙂

I also considered doing an easy craft, but I didn’t think of it with enough time to actually prepare. I thought making paper plate puppy masks, or using construction paper to make puppy ear headbands would be easy but still fun. I guess I’ll have to save those for another storytime.

The books I’ve chosen are “Harry the Dirty Dog” by Gene Zion, “Bark, George” by Jules Feiffer, and “Puppies, Puppies, Everywhere!” by Cat Urbigkit.
Those are actually ordered by most to fewest words. Not only does it help to pick books with a variety of lengths depending on the time you might have due to all sorts of variables, but it also helps if you are planning say a preschool storytime, but have kids that show up that are much younger or older and have different attention spans.
Luckily, my library hosts a wide range of storytimes with events planned for babies, all the way to preschool, and then even a family storytime, but, if I learned anything from my first Monday night storytime it was that putting an age group on an event doesn’t always mean that will be the age of everybody at said event.

For example, I do a preschool storytime twice a week, Monday and Thursday. For some reason, my Monday group skews wildly towards toddler age with only a couple preschool age children, but my Thursday group has been pretty steadily preschool age. I’m learning to plan accordingly and try to pick books and activities that are either versatile enough for a wide age range, or easily modified on the fly to fit that range.

Tonight, we did have a handful of younger kids that found some left behind egg shakers and decided it was play time, but after we settled that, I was able to get through all 3 books, 2 songs (even though the video for bingo didn’t play, we still sang) and an active rhyme. We also talked about dogs and puppies that we have as pets  and they even told me how a big dog says hello (WOOF) or a little dog says hello (YIP)
We did lots of moving around, got all our puppy wiggles out, and made LOTS of noise!

The kids were enthralled with Harry the Dirty Dog and giggled adorably all the way through Bark, George. Puppies, Puppies, Everywhere! wasn’t as big of a hit, but they still seemed to enjoy it, and it’s a quick read and I like that it has photographs of actual dogs so the kids are able to see that instead of just drawings or cartoons.

After we said goodbye, almost all the parents came up and thanked me and told me how much fun their child had. Awesome! 😀

I can’t wait to see how Thursday turns out!

UPDATE
————————————————————————————–

The Thursday morning rendition of Puppy storytime wasn’t nearly as busy or high energy as I had expected. It was still an excellent session, lots of sharing about our puppies or puppy toys we have, and they were excellent listeners for the stories, but they didn’t seem to be quite as in to the songs and rhymes as Monday’s group. I DID get the BINGO video to work this time and they were ENTHRALLED with it. All eyes on the screen, singing and clapping along quietly, it was very cute. 🙂

We did the same 3 books, in the same order, and they really seemed to enjoy “Bark, George”; in fact, on of the parents came up and asked to take it home after because her kids seemed to like it so much.

I enjoy that story more and more each time I read it. I found myself making goofy and confused / surprised faces after each incorrect noise and they all laughed and rolled their eyes as they heard all the funny noises come out of George or saw my reactions. “No, DUCKS say quack!” they’d cry; duh, George, sheesh. 😉

We did the “Paws on the Dog” twice because they seemed to be quite set on learning the actions and they had it down after one go round.

Again, we wiggled like puppies and barked and yipped; we had a few VERY enthusiastic barkers,  hopefully they all got their barks out before the car ride home. (sorry mom. )

I quite enjoyed this themes and can’t wait to do it again, maybe I’ll even craft up a stuffed George and all the creatures he swallowed (a la there was an old lady)

Since we had a request in the first session for MOAR FLANNEL BOARDS and Monsters, next week I’m aiming to do another exciting storytime “first” for me and maybe break out some crafts. Monster Mask, anybody?

Bonus! Here’s Betty White reading “Harry the Dirty Dog”. I was quite tempted to just play this video and call it a day. 😉 Yay, Betty!